Domestic Violence: Adverse Impact on Children's Behavioural Development - Essay Sample

Introduction

Domestic violence entails all acts of physical, sexual, and economic violence. Any person gets adversely affected when exposed to such kinds of abuse (Pingley, 2017). Children are the most vulnerable population, and when exposed to such violence, behavioral change implications are long term. The home is the first social set up that a child is introduced to the right from birth and, therefore, plays a vital role in shaping a child's behavior. Also, the people found in the family are critical in the life of a child, because these people are the ones that a child interacts with, from birth, and learns to love, trust them. When a child is exposed to violence in the family set up, it becomes very catastrophic to the child's growth emotionally, physically, mentally, and psychologically. The implications of a child through witnessing violence are as severe as that of direct abuse of a child (Pingley, 2017).

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Attachment theory explains that children develop some relationships with people that they encounter in their initial stages of development, such as parents or caregivers. When a child experiences domestic violence from such an individual, it causes mistrust in the subsequent relationships that this child associates in, because, as the child was growing up, they had witnessed violence from someone who was meant to be their protector. Attachment is very crucial in the development of a child emotionally and mentally. When a child undergoes traumatic experiences such as child abuse or witnessing violence in such a setup, their growth deteriorates significantly (Pingley, 2017). According to research, when a child witnesses violence, there is a high likelihood of the child to abuse those that they get into relationships with because of the long-term psychological effect of what they experienced when their brain and body was a critical stage of development. The same research shows that when parents face violation in their kids' presence, the kids get distressed as they watch their parents' inability to protect themselves. This factor leads to a detached relationship between Parent and Child. When children are exposed to attachment issues at a critical stage of their development, it becomes impossible for the kid to get into healthy relationships, either as kids or as grown-ups in the future (Pingley, 2017). Also, it has been deduced that such violence is in a family become a Major Factor in the relationship of this children's adult life as they bring about fear and jealousy in intimate relationships, which lead to aggression and violence.

When children are exposed to violence, they resort to violent behaviors, as children and adults. The family set up is meant to teach virtues such as trust loyalty, honesty, and love. The family parents are the role models children use as they grow up and copy what they see from their immediate relations. The social theory emphasizes that their associations determine a child's behavior. When a child is abused ion the home set up, or witness violence, they tend to be violent as they grow up. According to research, children who exhibit violent behaviors are mostly brought up in violent homes, as they see violence as a way of conflict resolution (Pingley, T. 2017). When a child sees his or her parent being abused by a close relative, they tend to believe that violence is the most amicable way to express anger (Pingley, T. 2017). According to the same research, mothers of violent children acknowledge having been in intense relationships, when the children were between four to five years.

Children brought up in abusive families withdraw themselves from friends and other people. Apart from withdrawal behaviors, they also exhibit anxiety and fear due to the violence they witnessed on the face. Such withdrawals are very damaging to the growth of the child, emotionally, mentally, and psychologically. Children who are withdrawn perform poorly academically compared to their counterparts. Such children develop fear and cannot approach others as they fear that they may be confronted with violence and therefore chose to keep to themselves (Campbell et al., 2016). Also, children exposed to domestic violence saw signs of insecurity, fear of being alone, and low frustration tolerance. For instance, all these behaviors lead to health problems. For example, children who have witnessed violence at home or are abused in their families tend to keep quiet in school. Such children also develop fear towards teachers, a behavior that makes them hard to get the most of what the teachers teach them and hence reduced performance in their exams. At the same time, these children are not happy as they do not interact with other students at school because they are used to hate at home, and they find it hard to love their classmates and have meaningful friendships. At this point, the child cannot play with other children because they fear rejection since that is what they are accustomed to in their families (Campbell et al., 2016). In some cases, such children result in bullying their Fellows at school and even siblings at home.

Domestic violence has very adverse implications on a child's psychological, mental, intellectual, and emotional growth. A child who is exposed to force in a home setup is most likely to turn out to be violent as a child and in adulthood. May develop trust issues throughout their different life stages, which will make them unable to have meaningful relationships and, lastly, result in drug and substance abuse as a way of finding Solace within themselves. Parenting should be very careful in child upbringing and ensure that they protect their children from witnessing violence or from being abused. For a child to grow up to be fit in all dimensions, the parent has to ensure that the child feeds on her mind what is socially acceptable to avoid bringing up children with antisocial behaviors.

References

Burton, P. (Ed.). (2007). Someone stole my smile: An exploration into the causes of youth violence in South Africa. Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention.

Campbell, C., Roberts, Y., Synder, F., Papp, J., Strambler, M., & Crusto, C. (2016). The assessment of early trauma exposure on the social-emotional health of young children. Children and youth services review, 71, 308-314.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740916304030

Pingley, T. (2017). The impact of witnessing domestic violence on children: A systematic review.https://ir.stthomas.edu/ssw_mstrp/773/